Mobile content authoring systems exist in the market today. These are used in conjunction with learning management systems or content management systems to allow an author to create mobile content, assign it to a user and track its usage. The main problem is that once the content is created and assigned to users, it is typically stored on a central server. Users with mobile devices are required to access this central server, authenticate themselves, and then retrieve/download the content for viewing. They must be online to retrieve and view the content. They must also remain online while viewing the content. Network latencies in retrieving large content files, such as video files, are apparent as the user is waiting for them to download while viewing. There are other models where a user utilizes their computer's desktop software to pull down the content, and then the desktop software sends the content to a connected mobile device for playback. Playback can occur in these environments even if the device has no network connectivity. No usage tracking, which is particularly important for training systems, can occur in this model.
Notifications are typically sent to the mobile users via email to tell the user that there is new content available for them. They must then access the server when they are online to get to the content. This is how mobile content players function in general when part of a central authoring, publishing, and tracking system. They need to access a server, then initiate a download/pull of the content. This is always user initiated on the device. This is essentially a mobile web browser/web server model. There are no provisions to run the content located on a central server offline (i.e. when there is no network coverage, such as on an airplane for example) and have the player smart enough to know that it is offline and should track progress locally offline and then synchronize when the user comes online again.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related thereto are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.